Developing Universal Human Rights Indicators for Public Health: Human Rights Treaty Monitoring for Water and Sanitation

The right to water and sanitation has been widely recognized as critical and related to the realization of public health. Through an assessment of human rights treaty monitoring for water and sanitation, focusing on analyzing the evolving content of these references to water and sanitation, this paper examines state reports to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to investigate how they reflect (a) changes in state implementation of human rights, (b) developments in international human rights norms, and (c) specificity in treaty body reporting guidelines.  The authors found that state reporting on the rights to water and sanitation has suffered from inconsistencies and differences over time and across states.  Differences in reporting patterns highlight the difficulties of setting “aspirational” human rights norms without any detail to states in implementing those norms.  Responding to the inconsistencies in reporting, this project recommends the development of universal human rights indicators – reflective of human right norms and practical for state reporting.  The development of human rights indicators can facilitate the translation of human rights norms into the information needed to monitor the rights to water and sanitation, yet accountability for water and sanitation will require that these indicators be practical for state reporting to human rights treaty bodies.  The development of such indicators, in conjunction with subject matter experts and state governments, will help ensure consistent indicators that that can be compared over time and across states.